The Guardian: Eliud Kipchoge smashes world marathon record by 78 seconds in Berlin
• Kenyan adds record to Olympic gold medal won in Rio
• Previous record was set by Dennis Kimetto in 2014
At Eliud Kipchoge’s training camp in Kenya, where he never misses his turn to clean the toilets or draw water from the nearby well, his fellow athletes call him “the boss man”. And on a pleasant autumn day in Berlin the 33-year-old lived up to that reputation – as well as reinforcing his case to be considered the greatest distance runner of all time – by obliterating the marathon world record.
Kipchoge’s time of 2hr 01min 39sec was staggering enough, given it took 78sec off the previous best set by Dennis Kimetto in 2014. But the fact that he did it while going solo for the last 17 kilometres (10.5 miles) – embracing the loneliness of the long-distance runner – after his pacemakers dropped out much earlier than intended, was almost as breathtaking.
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WNU Editor: Slightly off topic, but this is an incredible feat. It is only a question of time before the marathon is run under two hours.
